The Powerhouse Arts Ceramic Studio Director Biata Roytburd worked with Polak to create the tiles as prototypes. Roytburd created slab tiles for the artist, Jenny Polak, who carved and sculpted the slabs. These four relief tiles were used to create plaster molds to produce the tiles, which are to be exhibited in continuous groupings. Each tile measures 7.5 in x 9.5 in x 1 in and is an edition of 9 rendered in a custom glassy blue celadon which accentuates the carvings beautifully.
The works will be exhibited at Brief Histories gallery as part of “Inheritance,” a group exhibition, opening June 18, 2022, 6-8pm.
About the Artist:
Jenny Polak makes site and community responsive art that reimagines domestic space as a political arena and gathers people to amplify demands for social justice in public space. Originally from England, her art draws on her background in architecture and includes architectural installations, drawings and useful commemorative objects. The artist’s family history of migration drives her to examine detention centers, racial profiling, and strategies for surviving hostile authorities. Her fictional firm “Design For The Alien Within” creates hypothetical hiding and dwelling places, symbolic lookout and counter-surveillance structures.
